Sunday, February 27, 2011

According to Cowboy Stanley , late Saturday evening Grace Farrell quietly walked out of his apartment. She left the door open . Cowboy had fallen asleep and didn't notice her leaving .Grace left with her purse and Cowboy's pouch which contained $6 . She did not take either of her 2 coats . Grace did not return , she died several hours later on a cold early Sunday morning sleeping on the sidewalk next to St. Brigid's Church on avenue B .

Grace had been staying with Cowboy since late Thursday (February 17)evening .That night she had arrived at Cowboy's door around midnight with a mostly empty bottle of Old Heritage Whiskey in her hand .She stayed with Cowboy until she left the following Saturday night .The story told here Cowboy claims to have volunteered to NYPD at the 9th precinct headquarters after he heard of Grace's death .

It has been reported that on the Thursday night that Grace arrived at Cowboy's door , Grace was in Tompkins Square Park on Crusty Row giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dying woman named Danielle .Though it is possible such could have happened before arriving at Cowboy's door I don't see it as very likely .In the enlarged B&W image here , it can be seen that there is a light haired woman in the midst of things(in the color version of this image posted on Friday the color of the hair can be seen).It is impossible to say who this woman is in this image . Given that Cowboy claims that Grace was very drunk when she came to his door at about the same time as the tragedy occuring on Crusty Row and given my experience knowing Grace and her alcohol impaired abilities it would not in my opinion have been likely that she could have sucessfully managed such a complex task as performing CPR.

Grace and Cowboy had a history perhaps 4 years long . Neither an easy nor always pleasant history . Both Cowboy and Grace drank a lot .Perhaps that was the main reason for the bond they seemed to share .Grace was also often desperate for a place to live and Cowboy had an apartment , often with some booze on hand .

Where Grace spent the remaing portion of her time is unclear . She did have someone with whom she stayed occasionally ,with whom it is claimed she had a child .According to Grace this was not a good relationship .

I spoke with Grace in the street several times over a period of 3 or 4 years . She was always intoxicated , a bit incoherent , very anxious and afraid ... and at times shaking uncontrollably .One evening on avenue A Grace was shaking while seeing white bugs crawling all over her .Inspite of all the problems though there was never anything threatening about her , only a sense of gentle vulnerability .

She never seemed able to care for herself . She often spoke of an older man ,with whom she lived at times , beating her .She often said something about a child she had and also how the older man sometimes gave her money

The last time that I saw Grace was a couple of years ago , the night that Biker Bill fell and fractured his hip . Grace needing a drink , had the shakes and thus rode in the ambulance with Biker Bill to St. Vincents where she hoped that she would be helped . According to Bill the hospital threw her out to the street with out helping her in any way .

Grace needed help . Recently she had been in the hospital for 4 days for psychiatric care . On the hospital discharge summary two things stand out ,her response "I need help" and the cocktail of drugs prescribed for her .This cocktail includes an anti-convulsant , 2 anti-depressants and a micronutrient , not substances that mix in a healthful manner with alcohol .

New Years Eve of 2010 Grace arrived late at Cowboy's door . Grace had clearly been beaten by someone .According to Cowboy and his friend Spike her face was scratched , bloodied and bruised . Both claimed that Grace's nose appeared to be broken .

The next day Cowboy and Spike got Grace to take an ambulance to the hospital . Spike claimed that the medical technicians noticed the marks on Grace's face and asked her who had beaten her . I do not know her answer if she offered one .